No griping at kids,
no forcing them to clean it up
with a rag and spray bottle of kitchen cleanser.
Just a slight grimace
overcome by a smile and recognition:
this won't last forever,
so enjoy the sweet smudges
{they're only smudges}
while you can.
Call me crazy.
I signed the kids up for the mud run on probably the hottest day of the year. It was brutal out there, I tell ya, brutal. 
It was over 100 and there's no telling what the heat index was. I know this: it was HOT SNOT.
And dirty. Scratch that. Filthy. 
but we were with friends....
and family....
and worked hard...
and well, the kids had a blast. 
Look at Ana in the middle; proof that kids can get just as dirty or clean as they set their minds to! That was a great accomplishment Ana :)
at the end, the firefighters hosed them clean and as Nana (who came out and watched the action) said, "Every time you get a chance to do something fun in life, you should take it!"I have an interesting tip for you to get your laundry smelling AMAZING!!! 
First step: Fill washer with laundry; make sure to sort by color.
Second step: Add desired amount of your favorite detergent.
Third step: Throw in a box of dryer sheets. You read that right. The whole box. Not the dryer sheets pulled out of the box, but the dryer sheets IN the box.
Fourth step: Start washer.
Fifth Step: When washer is finished, you will need to sort through the laundry and pull out the dryer sheets, all 50-100 of them. The box will have disintegrated into thousands of teeny weeny pieces.
Disclaimer: Your laundry will feel somewhat waxy after it has run through the dryer, and you will continue to find miniature pieces of cardboard littering your laundry. You may even have to re-wash some of your clothes to eliminate the countless bits of cardboard stuck to your clothes and towels.
But..... this tip will get your laundry smelling super nice. How do I know? I inadvertently tried it yesterday! (The pic of laundry above includes some of the dryer sheets that made it through the washer AND dryer - ha!)
You will know when my kids are coming. You will smell the "Fresh Awakenings scent" by Gain a mile away!
I am Not Getting Emotional.
I am Not Getting Emotional.
Kami was not allowed on her flight tonight.
I won't bore you with the fine print, but....
well, maybe I WILL bore you because I'm not a happy momma.
fine print:
Unaccompanied minors cannot fly on the last flight of the night.
Ok, got it.
So, I booked her on a flight. (didn't look like it was the last one of the night... how am I to KNOW?)
Called the airlines (as instructed) and gave them her information.
They logged her info, looked at her flights and said to check her in at the desk on the morning of her departure.
(thought for sure they would tell me if it were the last flight of the night!!!)
No one caught she was booked on the last flight of the night.
I should have. They should have.
No one did.
Now they are charging us to rebook her on to another flight that is not the last flight of the night!!!
Sooooooooooooooo, my baby is still in North Carolina
(safe in the hands of Tom's wonderful cousin) , which was still ok by me...
until I heard the sleet spiraling down on our roof this evening.
I have never gotten so upset about sleet. Until tonight.
Then, I started getting emotional. (freaking out?!?)
Visions of Kami being stuck in the airport for days on end, airports gridlocked by a winter monster storm, all alone with nothing to eat. Scared, and sleeping on the hard tile floor. Strangers breathing down upon her. Mom and dad being hundreds of miles away.
Big breath. Eyes on Tom. He smiles.... everything is going to be fine. OK.
I am not getting emotional.
She is flying out of Raleigh at 8AM Eastern time tomorrow morning.
Then, she has a THREE HOUR layover in Cincinnati,
and should arrive here at 2PM tomorrow.
Pray together now with me, will you?
I don't know that I'd call myself a cook.
But when I do cook, I'm definitely a messy cook.
I like to move fast. My sister teases me because I don't mess around. I get 'r done, as they say, and am kinda rough doing it. So when it comes to cooking 12 pumpkin rolls, the quicker the better.
But....
I forget that it's hard to be fast when I am cooking.
I just end up slinging pumpkin all over the cabinets...
and the counters and floors have a nice coating of powdered sugar everywhere...
And I ruined a whole sheet of pumpkin bread (tried to peel it off the pan too quickly).
Last year, when I was making pumpkin rolls, I was being quick and careless and was scraping the side of the mixing bowl with one hand while SIMULTANEOUSLY mixing with a beater in the other hand. Left hand slips down into the beater and I honestly thought I had cut off my thumb. The pumpkin rolls had a little red hue to them last year. Just thought it was food coloring, huh?
They are delicious though and messing up my whole Body for Life diet something awful.
Here is the recipe, in case you'd like to try them.
Yummy Pumpkin Rolls
Ingredients:
Directions:
FOR CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Allow to cool. Carefully remove cake from pan using wax paper underneath cake. Then, carefully peel off paper and lay cake on fresh piece of wax paper sprinkled with powdered sugar.
FOR FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Spread thin layer of cream cheese mixture over cake. Cut cake into thirds, widthwise. Roll up carefully and roll in powdered sugar if necessary. Wrap in wax paper and then plastic wrap; refrigerate at least one hour. I like to freeze mine. I take them out and cut off the ends to make the ends looks crisper. I then put back in freezer and hand out when needed, making sure to tie up with a bow!
